Have you ever put a lot of work into editing a picture, only to upload it to Facebook and have it look terrible? It happens to a lot of people and there is a way to prevent this loss of quality. You see, Facebook resizes your images to fit, but it does not apply any sharpening, which is essential for optimal web viewing. By resizing your photos and sharpening them before you upload them, you will achieve the best quality and your Facebook friends will see your photo in all of its “original” glory.
I always resize my Facebook images to somewhere between 720 and 900 pixels wide. 720 pixels is optimal, but sometimes I’ll resize them to 900 because that’s the perfect size for my blog and I don’t want to do the process twice. After resizing your photo, you’ll notice that it looks a little blurry. This is where sharpening comes in handy. Whenever you shrink an image, you need to sharpen it to keep it clear. Apply just enough sharpening to make it look crisp, but not pixelated.
After you resize and sharpen your images, you should watermark them if you are going to put them on any public forum, such as a website or a Facebook fan page. It can be as simple as writing your name across the image and making your text layer semi-transparent. This will protect your image from being stolen and used on other websites. Believe me, image theft happens! You don’t want someone taking your photo and changing it or associating it with something you do not approve of. Plus, watermarking your images makes them look extra special in my opinion.
If you really want your photos to shine on Facebook, take the extra time to resize and sharpen. It will make a huge difference!
